#when we drive

[breakmyheartwithlyrics]

Death Cab For Cutie- When We Drive

[silhouetteofacedar]

When We Drive, Ch. 9: Alarm Clocks, Discretion, and Shared Soap

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, Rated M

George Washington Memorial Parkway, Alexandria, Virginia

8:57 AM EST

April 14, 2000

For the first time, she stayed.

Mulder’s still a little drunk off the feeling of waking up with Scully in his bed. He’s intoxicated by the memory of her small hands traversing his naked body, the way she pulled him into her in the first slivers of dawn peeking through the blinds. They’ve had sex a few times, and each time she left before he woke up. But not last night, not this morning.

No, this time she stayed all night, and Mulder feels recklessly as though life couldn’t get any better.

Except that they fell back asleep and missed the alarm.

Now he's leadfooting it on the G.W. Parkway, with a very agitated Scully practically vibrating in the passenger seat.

Scully glances at her watch and groans. “Three minutes to nine, Mulder,” she warns. “This is bad.” She brings her forearm closer to her face and sniffs. “And I smell like your soap,” she adds.

“Mhmm,” he agrees, leaning towards her slightly and inhaling deeply. “And it suits you.”

“Stop smelling me and just drive, please,” she replies tightly, rummaging through her bag. “Jesus, how did we both miss the alarm? I never oversleep and you don’t sleep.”

“I’ve actually been sleeping pretty well lately,” Mulder says with a grin. “You’ve been wearing me out, Scully.” He glances at her and sees a pretty blush blooming on her cheeks. “I’ve never felt this good in my entire life.”

“Don’t be sweet with me,” Scully orders. “I’m trying very hard to not be attracted to you right now.”

“How’s it working for you?” Mulder prompts slyly.

Scully ignores the question. “We’ve been careful, discreet,” she laments. “We had a plan.”

Mulder huffs out a laugh. “I doubt we’re as discreet as we think we are,” he points out. “There’ve been rumors for years. For everyone else this is probably going to be old news.”

“Regardless,” Scully counters, pulling down the passenger side mirror and uncapping a lipstick, “I would prefer if it weren’t any kind of news, for our private life to stay private. Arriving late together is just… blatant.”

“Are you ashamed?” Mulder asks, glancing at her.

“My level of shame the morning after directly corresponds to how good the sex was the night before,” she murmurs, words misshapen as she dabs on lipstick while she talks. “So it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Except that we have an unfortunately timed meeting with Skinner at 9:30 and I smell like you.”

“Just don’t let him get close enough to get a whiff, and it’ll be fine. It could be worse, Scully; we at least got to shower. After all that-”

Scully shakes her head. “Mulder, I can’t even think about last night-”

“And this morning,” he adds.

She gives him a pleading look. “Please, let’s be as neutral and distant as possible without raising suspicion,” she says in a low tone. “If you so much as touch me I’m going to fall apart.”

Mulder grips the steering wheel tighter. “Then I’m going to have to ask you not to use that voice with me,” he counters.

“What voice?” she asks, brows furrowing.

“That voice. God, it’s such a turn-on, Scully,” he confesses. He feels suddenly feverish, hears echoes of the sounds she made in his bed in the small hours of the morning.

“My voice is my voice,” she sputters, “I can’t just change it.” She slumps in the passenger seat, smoothing her hair with her hands. “We’re a fucking mess, Mulder,” she sighs.

“It’s gonna be fine,” he assures her, absently laying a hand on her knee before pulling back quickly. “Sorry,” he says.

“How did we survive seven years?” Scully marvels.

“In my case, visual aids,” Mulder says.

“Oh I am very aware of that,” Scully quips. “You weren’t exactly subtle about it. I could have- should have- had you reprimanded. Or fired.”

“So why didn’t you?” Mulder asks, a little sheepishly.

Scully shrugs. “I liked you,” she admits. “Or it’s Stockholm Syndrome. Either way, you’re a lucky man.”

“A-fucking-men to that,” Mulder swears, smiling at her. She looks pretty put together for someone who fucked all night and went for another round the next morning.

“Hey, Scully, it’s gonna be fine,” he says softly. “You’re the most professional and focused person I know. So what if we’re a little late today? Nobody will suspect a thing.”

“And if they do?” she counters.

He shrugs. “Well, you look fantastic, so just chalk it up to jealousy.”

She shakes her head, but there’s a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

“So,” Mulder says once they’re parked in the Hoover Building garage, “One kiss before we face the hoards of nosy federal employees?”

“Mulder, our meeting is in fifteen minutes,” Scully reminds him. “And we can’t both wear this lipstick.” She gathers up her briefcase and purse and gets out of the car, taking a single steadying breath before turning and walking briskly towards the elevators.

Mulder drops his head back against the headrest, eyes caught in the cadence of her hips as she stalks away.

She owns him in mind, body, and soul; yet he wonders if she even knows.

[queenbirbs]

I can't expect you to be honest

Or to be faithful every day 'til the end

I just need you to be always a friend

[am-i-musical]

“I can’t expect you to be honest / Or to be faithful every day till the end / I just need you to be always a friend / As this sun sets over Dakota / Underneath the crimson ocean of sky / Know I’ll always want you by my side / When we drive / When we drive / You and I were born in motion / Never in one place for too long a time / And now it’s the only way we know to survive // Climb into the backseat and close your eyes / I’ve got the wheel / Dream of all the places only we will find

— “When We Drive” by Death Cab For Cutie

[eaytazy]

[jannelle-o]

I can't expect you to be honest Or to be faithful every day 'til the end I just need you to be always a friend

[kei-nyan]

My room smells of peach ice tea and vodka.

[silhouetteofacedar]

When We Drive

MSR, rated M- 11.3k words - AO3 Link

Hundreds of hours, thousands of miles, and the conversations Mulder and Scully have in between.

Ch. 1: Corn Fields, High School, and Sexual Debuts

Ch. 2: Early Flights, Used Tissues, and a Swan

Ch. 3: Mars, Mercury, and An Asshole

Ch. 4: Ginger Ale, Saltines, and Shifting Shapes

Ch. 5: Motel Wine, Bushwhacking, and Body Tetris

Ch. 6: Ghost Ships, Bruises, and a Pretty Damn Good Kiss

Ch. 7: Domestic Disputes, a Highway Reverie, and Nachos

Ch. 8: Seven Seconds, Seven Years, and Day One

Ch. 9: Alarm Clocks, Discretion, and Shared Soap

Ch. 10: Resurrection, Gestation, and Frozen Casseroles

Ch. 11: Birth Coaching, Physical Enormity, and Dad

Ch. 12: Getting Out of the Car